The story takes place some time in earth's near future, at a time when all plant life has been destroyed on the planet in some unexplained way; America's last forest land still exists, however - millions of miles out in space on board the Valley Forge. The ship carries along several huge geodesic domes filled with trees, flowers, garden plants, etc., along with much of the animal life that goes with them. A crew of four mans the ship, with the help of a number of mechanical drones, but only one, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) really cares about the forests in his care. We first meet the other three crew members racing willy-nilly around the ship in jeep like go-carts, thinking nothing of trampling a bunch of flowers or taking shortcuts through the grass. In person, they are even less likeable, making fun of Lowell's idealism and basically harrumphing on their own belief that the forests have no importance whatsoever. Lowell himself starts off on the wrong foot, in my opinion, in terms of the audience's reaction to him. The man is a wide-eyed zealot seemingly about two steps away from madness of a dangerous kind; I agreed with everything he said about the importance of the forests, but his words are somewhat lost on the listener (and the crew) because he is simply annoying in his fanaticism. His mood doesn't improve when the crew gets word that they are to destroy the forests and return home to commercial service. Freeman can't handle such a decision, so he does what he feels he must in order to save the last vestige of earth's forests still in existence.

The second half of the film revolves solely around Freeman, as he is basically stranded in space with his forest. His only companions are (originally) three drones, and in my opinion these little robotic guys steal the show. This is a 1971 film, so the drones are by no means technologically exotic, yet these things do have their own personalities; there are a couple of especially poignant moments with the drones that I would like to have seen explored on their own terms, but this would have wandered a little too far afield from the premise of the film. The ending is actually quite touching and, perhaps more importantly, it feels right to this viewer.

There is certainly a strong undercurrent of allegory working in this storyline. Freeman's fellow crew members represent society at large; their lack of concern for the forests and dismissal of any ecological cares at all are meant to be a condemnation of contemporary society's uncaring and unthinking attitude toward ecology on the planet. Freeman is an evangelical fanatic on the subject, a voice crying in a wilderness that may not survive much longer if things continue as they are; up until the very end, he does not give up hope, though, and that is the inspirational message that stays with the viewer after the movie ends. It's a rather somber and depressing movie for the most part, yet I, who would not call myself an environmentalist of any kind, was touched both emotionally and intellectually by the film. Freeman and his crewmates represent the extreme weights on both sides of the environmentalism/commercialism scale, and it is up to us, the viewers, to find a way to balance those opposing weights on our home planet.

Set in the far flung future aboard the spaceship "Valley Forge", Bruce Dern and three other astronauts maintain the huge vessel and the forests that it contains with the help of three ingeniously rendered robots. The robots are so convincing that they almost steal the show (I won't give away how they were done- it spoils the effect), but they remain classic depictions that are on par with Maria from "Metropolis", Robby from "Forbidden Planet" and the droids of "Star Wars".

A sad story with a surprisingly downbeat ending and a strong ecological message, "Silent Running" is a visual treat with outstanding special effects (designed and produced by Trumbull) and a very realistically-depicted "Valley Forge" spaceship. Trumbull had use of the decommissioned naval aircraft carrier "Valley Forge" before it was scrapped at the aptly-named Terminal Island facility in Long Beach, CA and he was able to modify many of it's vast interiors for use in the movie, all to good effect.

Bruce Dern turns in a great performance and this movie did much to enhance his career, as he is the lone human character for much of the film.

And about those Joan Baez ballads included in the soundtrack- you either love them or hate them. I think that they fit in fairly well and do much to convey the mood of the movie, especially after the sequence where the robots beat Bruce Dern at poker by cheating!

Several key production personnel who were involved with "Star Wars" just a couple of years later were part of the "Silent Running" crew and some of the design sensibilities set in the visual style of "Silent Running" later show up in "Star Wars".

"Silent Running" makes a perfect afternoon of sf film viewing along with the other movie directed by Douglas Trumbull- "Brainstorm".

This is a sad story with a strong ecological message, "Silent Running" is a visual treat with outstanding special effects and a very realistically-depicted "Valley Forge" spaceship. A production note: Trumbull had use of the decommissioned naval aircraft carrier "Valley Forge" before it was scrapped and he was able to modify many of it's vast interiors for use in the movie, all to good effect.